The evolution of IPL ads

In the year 2008, IPL ascended the throne of ultimate entertainment in India, bringing cricket enthusiasts together. Every year since then, viewers have been treated to a two-month-long 'cricketainment' with their favourite players.

Apart from the tournament itself, viewers also look forward to the IPL campaigns themselves specially curated for the season by broadcasters and BCCI.
Bollywood camp-style "Manoranjan ka baap" was one such ad that is remembered years after it was first released. "I wish I was in that board meeting in which this concept was pitched," reads one of the adoring comments under the video on YouTube.

The promo song of the maiden season of IPL brings goosebumps to this day. Over the years, we got to see some brilliant ad campaigns for IPL that not only stayed in public memory but also redefined sports advertising in the country. 

Perhaps the most memorable of all IPL campaigns was Farah Khan's "Jumping Japang" ads, which became the anthem of 2013. The overarching theme of the ads was the choreographer-turned-director barging into homes and offices, teaching IPL viewers how to dance and celebrate.

Over time, IPL campaigns have changed from being creativity driven to data-driven, marking a significant shift in the mood and reception of these ads. We asked our industry experts for their take on how the campaigns have evolved over time.

Abhijit Avasthi, Founder of Sideways Consulting who was a part of some of the initial campaigns noted that IPL can be used as an interesting opportunity to experiment with creativity, storytelling and other creative aspects.

However, the ex-Ogilvy exec isn't a fan of the recent ads and blames "templatisation", a practice where campaigns follow the same script.

He said, “I think the first few years, IPL was really interesting. It seemed to inspire people to come and watch."

“The launch campaign was all about the game and the rivalry, it was really fresh and it captured the raw emotion and competitive spirit. Manoranjan ka Baap was really interestingly done and said this is not pure cricket, it's basically entertainment. And over the years, the brief primarily used to be cricketenment because they wanted to draw in not only cricket enthusiasts but everyone to take part almost in a festive spirit.” he added.

He said that the campaigns are the same where there is a jingle, cricketers, dance and song, it is a sea of sameness. He said, “I think It's a phenomenal opportunity, you can do such endearing work because cricket and entertainment run so deep with people in India. You can give a fresh cut every single time but in the last couple of years, it's just a sea of sameness, they all look the same.”

When asked about what different creative aspects were seen in the campaigns, Amit Wadhwa, CEO at Dentsu Creative, said, “The whole thing can be clubbed into three segments - entertainment, scale, and tactical communication. Earlier it was pure play entertainment, now it is moved into scale itself which is a different way of storytelling and they also move into tactical pieces of communication.”

Emmanuel Upputuru, Founder of Efgh Brand Innovations believes that IPL campaigns have evolved more to just add value to the brand than to persuade people to watch. “IPL has taken a life on its own and it doesn't require a campaign to go and tell people to watch it. The opportunity was to build a brand for IPL," he noted.

Varun Anchan, Executive Creative Director at VMLY&R advised young creatives to keep in mind that IPL is more than a sporting event. He said, “I think young creatives need to remember that sporting events like the IPL are more about the event than the sporting. They need to talk to the fans in a language they understand, not just cricket enthusiasts but all fans of the players, of the teams and maybe just of the game. For events like these it’s very important to be differentiated cause every brand is out there for the eyeballs and saying the same thing as everyone else will do little to drive home that objective.”

In conclusion, the experts agreed that over time the campaigns have become less quirky and memorable. “As an observer, there is nothing sparkling, nothing would be lost if they have not existed”, concluded Avasthi.